John Boy Saint

In Master Redmonds case, its not random, when yet another sparkling bit of play fizzles out at his feet yet again, you can hear the groan from all sides of the ground. Away from here bizarrely I hear very little slagging of the CBs when sat in SMS. Always remember being at probably our first home game in SMS v Spurs, think it might have been Boxing day. We went one nil up and were defending like the devil especially the last 10 minutes and held out for the win against that nasty Hoddle chap, hoorah! Driving home Mrs JBS turns to me and says "when that clock turned to 80:00 did you feel it, the whole atmosphere in the stadium got increasingly tense until the final whistle" I said "no.....probably because I was adding to it". I think as a crowd we have gotten so use to being disappointed of late, that the majority enter the ground with hope rather than enthusiasm. As Lawrie Mac always said he told new players especially "Southampton fans are a gentile bunch, you as players have to get them going, but once they are going they can be a raucous as any crowd in the land". The players made some comment over the past couple of seasons that they would like us to make more noise pre match......... so the club just turn up the volume and play allsorts until the ref blows the whistle to start the game.

Someone must have been dropping vodka shots into your pre match pints!!!

I have to say upon reading most of the above, seems a fair few folks have gotten so use to the failings of the club over the last 2 managerial appointments that its almost ingrained in the psyche that as everything goes in 3s the same applies to Southampton managerial appointments Adkins - Pochettino - Koeman.......Oops: Puel - Pelligrino - "ah Hughes is bound to follow". Let the Witch hunt commence!!..........Its like the voice you hear behind you in the stand who moans every week (5-0 up and that same voice is still moaning) its like a default setting. We are a mere 2 games in, first half we were not at the races v Burnley but much improved second half, again Saturday absolute pants first half, better second half with only 2 of the 4 players we bought to improve us able to make a contribution. The number of Hughes threads on here that are ultimately placing him under the microscope, anyone would think that we had just replaced Sir Alex Ferguson with David Moyes!

Good luck with your philosophy degree thesis, might need a bit more padding out though.

Has anyone splashed out the £100 in the Megastore to buy the actual shirt the players wear, not the cheaper material replica?

Reading between the lines after the Coates family decided to wash their dirty linen in public and slag off Hughes. It seems a lot of the issues Hughes was faced with was down to a director of football deciding to buy £50m of players that ended up sat on the bench, if they were lucky, due to them being square pegs and Hughes had round holes to fill. Aside from the Long and Austin blind-spot, for the first time since Koeman we seem to have a manager who does more than just shuffle the deckchairs, and actually tries to do something (by comparison to Puel and MoPe) noticeably different to change the game. Anyway when is the "What do you think Sparky had for Breakfast today" thread being started.

I’ve had a few so who cares. Only a total bellend would have failed to observe that his decent corner lead to our only goal!!!

That Mitrovic goal for Fulham v Spurs has to be a contender for Goal of the Month. Such quick thinking.

What a bonkers game Arsenal looking worse than Dagenham & Redbridge with 9 men, 2-0 down. Then Chelsea suddenly start thinking of their cream cakes at half time 2-2. Just hope half time doesn’t take the fun out of the game for us neutrals

Lemina living on the edge

Well done Alex

Blimey we should be sponsored by Clinton’s - flippin cards everywhere! looks like the whole squad will be getting a game by the time the first amnesty comes up.

Do we just go up there to lose. Oh look someone taller than Cedric wins the header in the box to score

What a save, thought it was straight at the bar from Ings

How is Carragher back on Sky!? ............ he gets right on my thrupenny bits.

Just about sums that turgid game up, what a shoite penalty

West Ham Directors must have a sound proof room they step into, just to laugh their heads off at what a bonkers deal they have https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45208151 Tell me I have read that right; West Ham are willing to pay for the pitch surround, but someone else has ruled that the London Legacy lot who lease the stadium to WHU for £2.5m per year will have to pay for it!!!!!!

He may have made some very questionable decisions against us in games, (his glorious assist at Burnley last season almost affords him cult status from Saints fans), you would hope that it is personal circumstances and not being hounded out. Need a few more of these youngsters on the whistle as they are more likely to keep up with the game.

Romeu sometimes gets a bit close to the knuckle with his last ditch challenges

What a shame it wasn’t Forest Green - just to listen to the crescendo of disgust at not being able to get a meat pie in the ground.

Whilst we are twiddling our thumbs waiting for the next game, looking out at the pouring rain. I was searching something on t'internet just now and on Google Chrome you often get a cartoon (Google Doodle) depicting a notable event, or person, from this day in history, above the search box. Today's "Doodle" was football themed "whats that all about?", so clicked it: Ebenezer Cobb Morley 187th Birthday....................... Who? Clicked again and learned something new. "What has this got to do with Saints" I hear being muttered, well nowt directly as he didn't play on the wing for us in the late 1800's, more football in general. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/ebenezer-cobb-morley-football-rules-laws-game-barnes-google-doodle-a8492781.html His original draft of 23 rules included a provision allowing players to “hack the front of the leg”, a controversial line that one FW Campbell of Blackheath felt was essential to promote “masculine toughness”. Another adherent suggested that without hacking tackles, “you will do away with the courage and pluck of the game, and it will be bound to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practice”. I wonder what he would have made of the modern game, and that Neymar fellow.

They have their work cut out with young Master Redmond then!

Reading Sundays match programme had a very informative interview with Mr Hughes, some nice positive quotes and thoughts.

Surely we want gems like Brian Clough is said to have come out with after Forest in their pomp got soundly beaten, might have even been by us!!!? Apparently he stood by the dressing room door as the household name players traipsed forlornly in to the dressing room and said "sorry" to each of them. Then stood in the centre of the dressing room and said "I am so sorry lads, this afternoons result was totally my fault and I take full responsibilty..............because obviously I named the wrong team to play"

Ooo how civilised........Just think a nice bit of Eppoises bought there before the match should be just about spot on after being in my pocket and transported across London to Waterloo. By the time I get off my curiously empty train carriage at Basingstoke Station it should be bloody glorious.